Barefaced cheek on Google Street View

However, two young pranksters from Dublin have succeeded in showing the world quite a different side to the country. Their backsides, to be specific.

The youths were captured by the Google Street View van mooning outside the gates of a house on Ballinteer Drive.

Pictures of the pair in flagrante were being emailed far and wide today with subject lines like “The Ballinteer Moon” and “Streetview Gets Mooned”.

The incident also elicited a lot of reaction on the micro-blogging site Twitter with users directing others to the address.

“If you take a wander up Ballinteer Drive, Dublin on Google Street View and keep looking to the left of the road you'll get an eyeful,” one user posted.

“There is great excitement here about bare arses in Ballinteer,” said another.

Google today moved quickly to blur the offending appendages on its site.

The internet giant's new Street View facility, which allows users to view streets, roads, houses and buildings around the State, has prompted concerns about privacy, especially where images contain shots of people and their possessions.

Yesterday, Fáilte Ireland’s John Concannon described getting involved with Street View as “a total no-brainer” as it would showcase every corner of Ireland to millions of tourists abroad.

Presumably he hadn’t meant this type of showcasing.

The Street View images, which went live yesterday, were compiled by cameras on Google’s specially adapted vehicles which have been travelling the length and breadth of the country since March 2009.